By Felix Khanoba
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it will soon launch a new programme “Export 774’’ with a view to identifying exportable products in the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
The Executive Director of NEPC, Dr Ezra Yakusak, made this known at the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) stakeholders’ conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
The conference has as its theme as: “The Role of the Non-Oil Sector Toward Economic Diversification, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth”.
Speaking on the ‘Export 774’, the NEPC boss said the programme was inspired by the huge success recorded in export of Nigerian products to foreign countries in 2022.
Yakusak revealed that Nigeria exported a total of 214 products in 2022. valued at $4.8 billion , the highest ever achieved by the country.
“We just realised that people are not aware of the products we have.
“We informed the world that we exported 214 products in 2022 and people were surprised that we had such products and we exported that much.
“So, because of that, NEPC management has agreed to inaugurate a programme called “Export 774’’.
“The Export 774 is targeted at identifying the products in all the 774 local governments of Nigeria.
“We identify them, we identify their potential and of course the specific places where they are cited.
“We will put them in a kind of compendium to compare two of those products before they are exported.
“Export 774 is one of the projects we are going to execute this year,’’ Yakusak said.
The NEPC boss, however, harped on the need for improved packaging of the nation’s products in order to fully maximise potentials in the international markets
He said that adding value to produce and ensuring proper packaging would guarantee acceptability in the world market.
Yakusak attributed the low value of agricultural produce from Nigeria in the international market to the raw state in which they are exported without processing and packaging to attract more financial value for them.
According to him, exporters will earn more revenue from their produce if they add more value to it.
Earlier, Mr Ifeanyi Onuba, the Chairman of CICAN, expressed the association’s optimism about the growth of Nigeria’s economy through non-oil exports.
According to Onuba, recent developments have shown that the Federal Government’s drive for economic diversification from the oil to the non-oil sectors, given the volatile nature of crude oil prices, is yielding the desired results.
“We must support non-oil exports to boost the economy in the light of present economic realities.
“Nigeria must move beyond oil and export of raw commodities and build a vibrant manufacturing sector capable of exporting finished goods that could boost the nation’s foreign exchange earnings,’’ Onuba said.
He said that expanding the country’s non-oil export remained a matter of strategic economic importance requiring continual intervention.
“And CICAN will continue to put the issue on the front burner of public discourse,’’ Onuba said.
